Exploring alternatives to constantly buying new crap

The fact that birds will eat chips found on the ground is not so surprising. What did surprise me is what happened before this photo was taken, which I didn’t capture on camera. The big bird walked right up to what look liked an empty chip bag, grabbed it with its beak from the bottom end, and shook it so the leftover chips spilled out onto the sidewalk. This has left me with so many questions.

Do we leave non-empty bags of chips on the sidewalk so often these days that birds know to do this without a second’s thought?

If the birds fill up on chips, how are they going to attack the nonhelpful bugs in my garden?

Is there a good way to compost greasy stuff like chips as an alternative to landfill?

Is it better to feed the chips to birds rather than to send them to landfill? Or do birds have similar health problems to humans if they eat too many chips? I can’t imagine they’re used to eating so much salt and grease.

How did this bag of chips end up on the ground? When I was a chip-eater, leaving behind this many chips was unthinkable. They were too addictive and precious.